January 2014 – Page 2 – The Bless Your Heart Blog

WDP is 9 Months Old

Wryder Douglas is 9 months old!

I'm a happy little fella! — I’m a happy little fella!

I don’t think it went this fast with Sawyer…I really don’t. I just went back and looked at what I wrote when he turned six months.

It feels like these 6 months flew by WAY faster than Sawyer’s first 6 months did. Oh, it’s hard on the heart to be a mommy, ya know it?

It must be true. 😉

At 9 months…

you weighed in at just a smidge over 24 pounds. Dad and I usually have to trade off holding you during worship or if we carry you through a store – you get heavy!
you are a big eater! You’re eating 20-30 ounces of food per day, plus 20 or so ounces of milk.

you have 8 cute little teeth and more that are bothering the dickens out of you.
your main mode of transportation is rolling. I’m thinking you’ll crawl one of these days. You’ve got a lot to haul around, I get it!
your favorite word is “momma” but you are perfecting “dada,” “bubba,” and “hi.”

you like to be WITH people; we don’t dare leave the room without you or you let us know about it!
you adore your sister more than ever. Playing with her is your favorite thing and you will laugh when she laughs, even if you have no idea what you’re actually laughing about.

you are so smiley and giggly and flirty. You have great, expressive eyebrows that you get lots of compliments on.
you’re a handsome little rascal that brings us so much joy! You are joy!

I love you, little man! Let’s spread these next three months out a little, ok?

I vacillate between hating the news and not being able to get enough of it. I like to stay informed and to take a peak outside my little safe haven a bit, but sometimes it’s just too much for my head and my heart.

NBC News has a feature called “The Week in Pictures” on their website and I’ve taken to browsing through it once a week. Some of the shots are absolutely breathtaking!

NBC NEWS - New Years Eve — NBC NEWS – New Years Eve

There are scenes that capture our culture and some of the major headlines of the week…

NBC NEWS - North Korea craziness — NBC NEWS – North Korea craziness

They usually have an amazing weather shot or two…

NBC News - frozen mist at Niagra Falls — NBC News – frozen mist at Niagra Falls

And a few that make you shake your head…or shiver…

NBC NEWS - a polar plunge of sorts — NBC NEWS – a polar plunge of sorts

And then…

Then there are the ones that absolutely destroy your heart. Like a baby who survived an airstrike in Damascus…

Or the family that gathered all of their belongings and fled from Banguiin, the Central African Republic that is under attack…

Or the mom and baby in South Sudan that are fortunate enough to have a mosquito net as they ride out being displaced due to fighting between the government and rebel forces…

NBC NEWS - displaced — NBC NEWS – displaced

We don’t have a clue. We wake up every morning in safe, warm homes with rights and freedoms and liberties and food and clean water. I don’t worry that my home will be bombed or that my children will be killed by rebels outside my door. I don’t wonder how or when I’ll eat again or where I’ll have to go to find food or shelter or safety. I don’t wonder where I’ll sleep at night nor do I have to consider keeping watch instead of resting. The decisions I make on a daily basis look nothing like theirs. I hope my kids grow up to the know the Lord and live for Him and treat others according to His word…and they’re just hoping their kids live.

Pray for these people; their plight isn’t as easy or as fanciful as ours. They are fighting battles much harder than I’ve ever even thought about facing.

I encourage to take a peak at one of their series’ or look back at the Year in Pictures – get outside of your living room walls a bit. Then, thank the Lord for your many blessings and thank Him that we don’t have a clue what that life is like…and then ask Him to change it for those afflicted.

One Track Mind

This cute little fella…

has a one track mind these days…..and I LOVE it!

He’s said “Momma” now for a while…remember? He’s just making it known that it’s pretty much his favorite word and I am totally ok with that. Watch this…and try not to melt. I know the link just makes it look OH SO EXCITING (in opposite land) but really, it’s cute. You’ll probably want to watch it twice.

IMG_3475

Are his little facial expressions and eyebrows not the best? He is definitely an emoter!

When we were 16 weeks, we had an early ultrasound and our doctor was 80% certain we were having a girl. We picked out a name, finished up our announcements and sat around and waited for the 20 week because Wrex just wasn’t so sure. There was a little something between the legs but the doctor was almost positive it was the umbilical cord. Ahem.

Fast forward to 20 weeks. I hopped up on the table and she put the sensor on my tummy and immediately asked if we wanted to know what we were having. Wrex replied with a, “That’s the only reason we’re here today!” Geez. She replied, “Well, it’s most definitely…” and I cut her off and said, “A girl!?” She looked at me and said, “Uh, no…a boy.”

I cried. Not in a bad way; all babies are blessings and miracles and I’ll take as many as He wants to give me…but I was just so………..shocked and unprepared. I had the girl thing down! We had all the stuff we needed for another girl! I’d already picked out a name and finished my announcements; a boy just didn’t fit in my little type A plan.

Little did I know how incredibly WONDERFUL he would be! He is such a sweet, smiley, snuggly little guy! He loves his momma and doesn’t really ever want her to leave the room without him. He’s sensitive and loving and just down right fun!

By the way, he can say “da-da” and “bubba”…but apparently he has a favorite. 😉 I’m totally digging his one track mind!

More Than Worth It

I love my kids…something I think you all know by now, yes?! I love them enough that I don’t want to leave their futures’ up to chance in the event that something should (God forbid) happen to Wrex and I. As NOT fun as it is to talk about, I’m a firm believer in being prepared so we spent the day meeting with a lawyer and drawing up our will, naming guardians, estate executors, etc.

The very thought of any of this actually having to happen just about makes me ill but I also know how very important it is. We’ve been witness to a couple of situations where the parents were not prepared and the children ended up with guardians that weren’t desired, huge legal bills were incurred, the children were pawns in a money game…ugly, unnecessary things.

If you haven’t drawn up a proper will that is legal in your state, I highly encourage you to do so. (Unfortunately, making your wishes known on a piece of paper shoved in your fire safe doesn’t stand up in court, even if notarized.) It literally took about two hours to get this drawn up, signed and printed; time well spent.

Take the time to pray and ask the Lord who you should name as guardians of your children in the event you both pass on and have your spouse do the same. The Lord will not impress something on one of you and something different to the other.

Find someone you know and trust that will have your family’s best interests at heart to act as the executor of your estate and a financial genius to act as your trustee.

Invest in life insurance. For you younguns, a million dollar term life policy for someone in good health is running about $1 a day…TOTALLY doable…so do it!

We had put this off long enough and I have sooooooo much peace that this is done. My plan is to be around for a long, long, long, long time and have a few more babies…but we’re never guaranteed tomorrow. We did, however, want to guarantee that our children would be taken care of to the best of our abilities in our absence. These {sweet, cute, kissable} faces are MORE than worth it!

Weekend Wrap

What a great weekend we had! It started out a little rough as we traveled west, stopped for supper and realized we had NO MONEY. My debit card was cancelled as part of the Target debacle and I haven’t received my new one yet and Wrex never carries a wallet, so when we met up in Sterling, he jumped in with us, sans debit card. Sigh. Thankfully, we had a Visa giftcard and some generous friends who let us write them a check and spotted us some cash.

It was cold and snowy all weekend, which made a great atmosphere for snuggling babies! Look at these sweet girls!

Sadly, I spent all my time snuggling and zero time taking pictures. She was just so warm and soft and cuddly – I just couldn’t keep my hands off of her!

We had to make a stop at Wal-Mart to grab some baby food for Mr. Wryder and they had some really fun carts!

Seriously, that was one of the highlights of their weekend!

We had a little pizza snack on Friday afternoon and Wryder tackled me, literally, for the crust. The kid’s an eater!

We popped in and saw the people Wrex used to work for. Their kiddos are SOOOO sweet to my kiddos. They had a ball while we were there!

Reagan was one of our FAVORITE babysitters for Sawyer!

We stayed with some dear friends – who spoil my kids rotten! They are some of the kindest, most generous people we know and this trip was no exception. They have a wonderful, peaceful, comfortable home and they drug out all the toys they could find for the kids AND let Sawyer decorate cookies. Is there much better in her world? Nope!

Every good decorator works shirtless, right?!

It was a fast, fun weekend! We never get to do EVERYTHING we want to do or see EVERYONE we want to see and sometimes that’s hard on me but we try our best. I guess that just means we’ll have to return soon..

Rhoades’, Johannes’, Stukas’, Allbrittens – you’re on our list!

I’ve Been Thinking About Jesus

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but Sawyer has ministered to us on several occasions and in several different ways. It always catches me off guard…I guess I’m not used to that quite yet…but it’s such a sweet, sweet thing.

Friday, before we left, I went to wake her up from her nap. She was already awake and I could tell she was whispering/talking. She said, “Mom, I’ve been thinking about Jesus!” (Words a momma delights to hear, let me tell ya!) And then…

She pulled me close to her and she laid her little hands on my head and just kept saying, “God is powerful and mighty. He is always with us. I love our God and He loves us. He is good and what He does is good.” Just over and over. At one point I kind of leaned up and she pulled me back down and continued speaking that over me. It was such a blessed, anointed little moment.

I assured her that what she had heard and what she was speaking WAS indeed truth and that it blessed me…immensely.

I pray that she always lends herself to the Lord…that she listens for His voice and shares when she’s supposed to share. I pray that she follows Him all the days of her life. I pray that everything that she puts her hands to will prosper. I pray that she will never feel ashamed of sharing His news, His story, His word…she can change her corner of the world by doing so.

She blesses my heart…

Bye Bye Love

Daddy’s Christmas break is coming to a close. (Insert big, pouty, wailing cry here.) He had a short sale Monday on our way back from Nebraska, so I didn’t really count that one…and I shouldn’t really count tomorrow because we’re going with him…but still, my heart is mourning not having him around all day, every day. We were incredibly fortunate to have him home for 16 days! How awesome is that?! I am sooooo incredibly blessed by his job and his schedule and how much he loves doing what he does. There aren’t a lot of people out that there that can say that, ya know? So while we will miss the added help and his silly jokes and his playful spirit and his uncanny ability to do or fix ANYTHING, we shall hand the local sale barns back their “cute Wrex/Superman/sheriff.” I’m sure they miss him, too. 😉

In celebration of our last day together, we went to town and ate Chinese and played at the park before the cold sets in again.

Who doesn't love that face?! — Who doesn’t love that face?!

Tonight, we’re cooking up some yummies to take to a special new mommy in Denver. My bestie had her baby 2 agonizingly long weeks ago and due to several unfortunate incidents I have yet to meet her and IT IS TIME.

You will be seeing LOTS more of this face soon... — You will be seeing LOTS more of this face soon…

So, if you don’t hear from me for a few days, it’s because I’m snuggling new babies and snuggling my man. I’ll be back soon enough…

Month: January 2014